


I should have turned away at Osaka Castle

by drelfina



Category: Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun (Video Games)
Genre: Edo Period, M/M, Possibly Unrequited Love, Shinobi, hayato is a fail ninja
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 20:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17794157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drelfina/pseuds/drelfina
Summary: It had surprised Hayato, that on naming his province of origin, Ooshiro Mugen had told him how sorry he was about his clan's demise.***Hayato doesn't want to think about Ooshiro Mugen, or feelings. But he can't help it.





	I should have turned away at Osaka Castle

**Author's Note:**

> So i was playing Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun over the holiday week the last week, and was struck by how much Hayato-the-fail-ninja clearly, CLEARLY had feelings for his samurai employer/friend. 
> 
> It is a very watchable game, so if anyone's interested, it's worth going to find the play-through on youtube and just listen/read the dialogue. 
> 
> read the end for yet more notes.

It had surprised Hayato, that on naming his province of origin, Ooshiro Mugen had told him how sorry he was about his clan's demise. 

Maybe it shouldn't have surprised him; Samurai were basically nobility after all, nothing like Hayato, a man without a clan name. Mugen recieved orders directly from the shogun, was clearly a loyal and trusted retainer - of course he would know much of what happened over the country. Perhaps for tactical reasons. 

It still had surprised him anyway, that Mugen had taken the time to find out, even if it might well have been for getting to understand the people around him, his subordinates better. 

Tactical. Strategic. right? 

But Hayato couldn't help remembering the heavy warmth of Mugan's strong hand on his shoulder in that small, smokey bar, the way his eyes had been dark and sympathetic. 

There were plenty of reasons to think that Mugen's investigating Hayato's background was entirely strategic and not at all personal, but Mugen's gaze had been anything _but_.

And even then... 

Hayato was younger than Mugen, yes, and there was definite power and strength in those hands and shoulders that would move _anyone_ with a heartbeat. 

But Hayato was no beautiful youth; he was younger but not that much younger. He was, as he'd told Yuki-chan, a grown-up man. Nothing of youth's beauty clung about his features, and haven't, for a long time. Maybe a decade ago, he might flatter himself that he was desired in such a way, but not now. Battle-hardened, cynical and scarred, he was nothing desirable to someone like _Ooshiro_ Mugen, a man with a proper clan and the ear of the Shogun. 

So it was ridiculous to be tongue-tied when Mugen told him, very kindly, warm and off-hand, that Yuki-chan was to be his student. That'd he'd _promised_ on his behalf that he would be the little feral urchin's sensei. Just as he'd been tongue-tied when Mugen had asked him to make a grappling hook for the girl, tongue-tied and unable to say anything else but no. 

(But then, you didn't say no to samurai, did you ? He had an excuse. he did.) 

He should have said no to the girl. he should have left immediately, gone and found a different job in a different province from a different employer. 

But Mugen's smile right as he'd left the room had stayed his tongue and stopped his heart and breath and when he could breathe again Mugen had long left the safehouse and he had been left to take in what he could of his life now. 

He should never have helped that samurai at Osaka Castle in the first place.

**Author's Note:**

> First Hayato decided to help mugen in the very first time tehy met even though he had no real reason to. Then Mugen hunts him down to share a very special mission with him, a mission he's only willing to share with those he... trusts (exact spacing and pause there). THEN Mugen asks Hayato to make him somethng and Hayato just DOES and then Mugen promises on Hayato's behalf IN HIS ABSENCE to convince him to take on this girl he found as a student in the shinobi arts.. 
> 
> and the next time Hayato sees Mugen, Mugen just tells him he's her sensei now because he promised. 
> 
> and Hayato is all WHAT?! but he doesn't protest. at all.
> 
> He also gets bitchy about Mugen's girlfriend later and... well if you watch to the end, hayato also gets very, VERY upset about Mugen's death and swears revenge. 
> 
> Strange, considering that he was all about the pay in the beginning of the game but by the end he's swearing to avenge Mugen's death and willing to do it just the right way FOR mugen... 
> 
> hmmmm. 
> 
> :D 
> 
> Note: Surnames/clan names in Japan only became wide-spread during the Meiji Restoration (ie after 1868). Prior to that, only some people, mostly nobility, had clan/surnames. Everyone else only had first names. Hence Ooshiro Mugen having a surname is actually probably significant - everyone else in the game didn't have one (and this can be considered a class-marker, i think, considering that Ooshiro Mugen actually remembers everyone's names AND going to the trouble of digging up information about Hayato's past. samurai probably don't bother about lower-class people that much.)


End file.
